Courtyard Cafe a tasty treat worth finding

It's a bit tucked away -- in the Churn Creek Plaza shopping center next to a Valero station in south Redding -- but the five-year-old Courtyard Cafe is worth searching for. There you'll find homestyle breakfast and lunch offerings, daily soup specials, tri tip on Fridays, eggs benedict on Sundays and heaping helpings of warm, friendly service.

Courtyard Cafe

Street address: 5200 Churn Creek Road, Redding

Phone: 722-0907

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Hours: Monday - Saturday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Owners: Dianne Gordon

Established: 2007

Sample menu items:

1 egg, bacon, potatoes, toast $6.95

Swiss and mushroom omelet $7.95

Chicken fried steak and eggs $8.50

Courtyard burger $6.75

Eggs benedict (Sunday) $8.25

Tri tip barbecue (Friday lunch) $8.25

Weekends are "hopping, crazy, non-stop," said manager Lisa Visconti, daughter of owner Dianne Gordon. If there's no room at any of the 12 tables inside customers can opt to sit at tables in the center's landscaped courtyard, weather permitting.

Gordon and Visconti know the business and love their work. Before she opened the Courtyard Cafe in 2007 Gordon owned the restaurant at Benton Air Park for 10 years (1994-2004). She and her husband are both pilots. Last October she opened the Main Street Diner in Cottonwood. Visconti worked at and then owned the deli in the basement of the Shasta County Courthouse.

"We love it," Visconti said of the restaurant business, even if the hours are long. What's so great about it? "The people. You've got to have the right personality. You're there for them."

Most popular breakfast items are the bacon and eggs and chicken fried steak. At lunch, burgers rule along with the daily soup special. Visconti's favorite: the spicy Ortega burger. Her kids -- she has four ranging in age from 8 to 15 -- like the biscuits and gravy and the diced ham scramble.

Regulars tend to arrive early and catch up over coffee. At a window table I spied Roger Dawes, former owner of R & R Meats and coach of the famed Redding Rebels womens softball team.

Decor is homey -- a montage of pictures of friends and extended family on one wall; on another, paintings and photos of airplanes. Visconti's dad pilots a Cal Fire spotter plane that directs bombers to their targets.

My swiss and mushroom omelet was delicious and Visconti kept a watchful eye on my coffee cup. Her friendly and upbeat attitude was almost contagious. "Customer service is our thing," she said with a smile as I bid farewell.